Andrew Jordan scored his fifth career victory in the British Touring Car Championship in the second race at Donington Park, ahead of Jason Plato and race one winner Gordon Shedden.
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Jordan followed Shedden patiently for the first seven laps of the race before making his move for the lead on the seventh lap at Redgate. The Pirtek Racing driver was then able to open up a comfortable lead, as Shedden held up the chasing pack by defending heavily.
“Once I got past Gordon it was just a case of hitting the apexes all of the time and driving a nice neat race,” said Jordan to TouringCars.Net. “I didn’t want to use all of my front tyres up in case Jason got past Gordon. I just wanted to have a little bit left in the tank. The car was superb.”
Despite driving extremely defensively, Shedden eventually lost out to a persistent Plato on lap 16, although the Scot was able to hold on to finish in third. Plato, entering his 400th race this weekend, therefore retains a slender lead in the championship over Jordan.
Matt Neal, making his 500th entry in the BTCC and like Plato running a special race number to mark the occasion, finished in fourth.
Adam Morgan finished the race in fifth – despite keeping pace with the leading quartet throughout the race Morgan was unable to find a clean way past. Nevertheless the Ciceley Racing driver has now amassed more points in the opening five races of 2013 than he did all season in 2012.
Sam Tordoff brought the second MG home in sixth, ahead of Speedworks’ Dave Newsham and Airwaves’ Árón Smith. Colin Turkington took the flag in ninth, having lost out to the former trio in the closing laps of the race.
Tom Onslow-Cole secured his first top ten finish of the season in 10th and will also start the final race of the day from pole position after the entire top ten were randomly reversed.
Lea Wood was the only finisher in the Jack Sears Trophy in 17th, after fellow S2000 class racers James Kaye and David Nye made contact on the opening lap. The incident, in which Nye drove into the rear of Kaye on the start straight, caused a brief two-lap safety car period at the start of the race. There were also engine problems for Liam Griffin, forcing him to retire after seven laps.
It proved to be another difficult race for the Rob Austin Racing duo – Austin himself pulled off after 13 laps when running in 15th after being turned around by Dan Welch at the chicane, whilst Will Bratt lost his left-rear wheel on the final lap of the race when running in 16th.
Round 6 of the 2013 BTCC takes place at 17:15 GMT.